Distributor ring



April 7, 1931- c. LE G.I FORTESCUE 1,799,977

' DISTRI'BUTOR RING Filed Aug. 7, 1 25 l WITNESSES: INVENTOR & 67274. 5le'fZr/esaoe.

W BY

- 7 ATTORNE.

Patented Apr. 7, 1931 UNITED STATES III G. IOBTESOUE, OI PITTSBURGH,PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOB TO WmTING- HOUSE mc'rmc & IAN'UI'ACTUBINGCOMPANY, A CORPORATION 01' PENNSYL- VANIA.

DISTRIBUTOR RING Application filed August 7, 1926. Serial No. 127,878.

My invention relates to distributor rin and particularly to rings fordistributing t e electrostatic fields about high-voltage insulators.

The object of my invention is to provide a rin of the above-indicatedcharacter, that sh 1 permit its easy and economical manufacture from amaterial of standard form; that shallbe readily assembled and mounted inoperative position and that shall be simple,

durable and efiective in its operation.

In high-voltage-insulator practice, it is usual to provide a conductingring, of one character or another, about the axis of an insulatoradjacent to one end thereof to assume fiashover arcs and to keepdamaging stresses away from the insulating parts.

However, as simple as they may appear, these rings are usually ofditficult and expensive manufacture, it being difficult to avoidtroublesome operations, such as pipe bending, joint forming and otheroperations,

such as die pressing, which calls for the use of expensive dies.

Certain of these rings have other troublesome features, such as the'oints between the rings proper and the radial arms for supporting them.It is my aim to overcome certain of the objectionable features ofdistributor rings of the prior art by providing a ring which may besimply and easily made from standard material, such as strap metal, andwhich shall be uniform and symmetrical in form, economical inmanufacture, simple and durable in construction and effective inoperation.

Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings is a top plan view of asuspension-insulator unit equipped with a distributor ring of myinvention, and

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view of the same.

The device comprises, in general, a highvoltage suspension-insulatorunit 1, a suspension clamp 2 for attachment to the in sulator unit 1 andfor supporting a conductor 3, and a conducting-ring structure 4 of myinvention for directing and distributo the electrostatic field of theinsulator umt 1. a

The insulator unit 1 is of the usual and well-known cap-and-pin typeand, in this instance, is represented as the bottom unit. of a string ofsimilar units for attachment to a supporting tower or structure (notshown).

T e suspension clamp 2 is also of a usual form, except that it embodiesreceiving portions 6 for the ring 4 and comprises a channel portion 7for the conductor 3, a clamp-- ing member 8, bolts 9 for holding theclamp ing member 8 in position and a bridge portion 10 on which thereceiving portions 6 and an apertured boss or clevis 11 are disposed. Abolt 12 extends through the clevis 1l-and an eye in the insulator pin(not shown).

The ring 4 comprises, in this instance, duplicate half portions, eachconstructed of uniform strap-like material having a sector or partialclosed-loop-like portion 14 and integral inwardly projecting ends 15that also project downwardly or out of the plane of the ring. Theadjacent corresponding ends or arms 15 of the respective half portionsof the ring 4 may be spot welded, riveted or otherwise secured to etherbetween the receiving portions 6 and the outer perimeter of the ring andare, preferably, spaced apart and apertured at the extreme inner endsthereof for the reception of bolts 16 and the receiving portions 6 ofthe clamp 2.

By the above construction, in which specified lengths of strap metalmaterial may be cut from elements thereof and formed into the half ringsby simple bending operations, a'ring is provided that is not onlyextremely economical to manufacture but is symmetrical and uniform inshape, simple and durable in construction and effective in operation.

While I have shown and described a particular form of my invention,changes may be effected therein without departing from the spirit andscope thereof, as set forth in the appended claim.

v I claim as my invention:

An electrostatic field distributor comprising a plurality of memberseach of substantially uniform cross-sectional area throughout having apartial-closed-loop-like field distributing portion and integlral bentsupporting portions continuing om, and ex-

